The friends and family of two lifeboatmen who have been missing at sea for more than 24 hours said today they would not give up hope of finding them alive.

Keith Allday, 54, the coxswain, and helmsman Alan Massey, 36, at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution station in Barmouth, Wales, were last seen sailing out to sea at 11am yesterday in a 15ft dinghy.

Mr Allday, who is also employed as harbourmaster and Mr Massey who is assistant harbourmaster, had gone out on a routine job to lay a mooring.

Their colleagues launched a full scale search at 6pm yesterday after their capsized boat was spotted off the Barmouth coast.

Neither of the men were on board and a fuel tank and lifejacket were found nearby.

Today friends and family of the men gathered at the lifeboat station as the search continued.

Divisional Inspector of Lifeboats, Andy Clift said: "The search will continue, we certainly have not given up hope yet.

"Their family are not giving up hope that we will find them and neither will we."

The search by the Barmouth, Criccieth and Aberdovey RNLI Lifeboats, coastguard search patrols, mountain rescue teams and police and RAF helicopters were being hampered by gale-force winds and severe rain.

The families of Mr Allday, who has five children, and who is former local fish and chip shop owner and Mr Massey, a father of one, were too upset to talk about their disappearance.

Inspector Clift said: "They are devastated by what has happened but they are all still holding out hope that they will be found."

Fellow lifeboat men fought back tears as they comforted relatives of the missing men and waited for any news from the crews who were scouring the coast.

One man, who did not wish to be identified said: "It is just our worst nightmare."

Spencer Gammond, head of media relations at the RNLI, described the search as "emotional but professional".

He said: "We always pull out the stops for any person who needs our help and we never leave any stone unturned.

"These are out own people, though it is an emotional time for us, but there is also a job to be done, so they will remain professional and get on and do it."

RNLI lifeboat men are all volunteers. The coxswain is the most senior position at a station and captains the larger boats.

A helmsman captains the smaller inflatable lifeboats.

Mr Allday had been a member of the Barmouth Lifeboat team for 16 years and had been coxswain for the past 13 years. Mr Massey joined the team in 1995.